Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing technologies, like Google AdWords are a fantastic way to target prospects at every stage in the sales funnel. You can use them to raise awareness, make your company or product stand out in the marketplace, drive sales, and re-engage with customers.

But as much as Google tries to make its AdWords system as simple as possible, it is inherently complex and there is a lot of jargon in which it can be easy to get bogged down, whether you’re managing your own campaigns or reading the monthly reports.

In this jargon buster post, I’ll go through a few of the key terms you’re likely to come across (mostly relevant to Search campaigns), which should make AdWords a little easier to use and explain to others.

General terms:

If you’ve used AdWords, these should be familiar.

• Campaign – At the top level of your account, you have your campaigns, each with its own goal, assigned budget, and settings for targeting (including location, language, time, etc.). You can use a campaign to promote a particular product area and have everything within that campaign designed to achieve that goal. There are several campaign types:

○ Search Network only – Google search and partners that can show text ads

• Ad group – Campaigns are split into sub-sections, called ad groups, each of which contains ads, relevant keywords, and settings for a specific objective or theme. For example, you might set up different ad groups to promote different applications of your product.

• Ads – These can come in a variety of formats, from text ads in search engine result pages (SERPs) to video ads on YouTube. The choice of ad type is determined at the campaign level, and is dependent on the goal of your campaign and where you want to show your ads.

• Ad extensions – Additional copy and clickable links under ads to provide more information, such as shipping offers, reviews, and local promotions. They can also provide an alternate route to contact/convert, for example a “Call” or “Message” button for mobile users.

• Keywords – At the core of any campaign, keywords determine how your ads and target audience cross paths. Careful selection and evolution of keywords over time makes sure that your ads are displayed to the relevant audience.

• Bid – Simply put, this is the amount you are willing to pay, set as a maximum bid. There are several types of bidding, depending on the type of campaign, including:

Performance metrics:

Any AdWords report will inevitably contain a variety of performance metrics, which do change from time to time as the AdWords system is updated and enhanced. These are the metrics you’ll most often come across.

• Impressions – Indicates the number of times your ad has been shown. For display ads, an impression is only counted if a user sees at least 50% of the ad on screen.

• Clicks – This is likely the metric to which users pay most attention (because you’re often paying for each one!). Clicks can be attributed to any clickable element in your ad, including extensions. However, clicks do not apply for all ad types (see: Interactions).

• CPC (Cost-Per-Click) – As a performance metric, this indicates the cost of a particular click, and is often shown as an average CPC over a selected timeframe.

• CTR (Click-Through-Rate) – An important indicator of how well you are targeting your ads, and how effective they are. CTR is given as the percentage of impressions that led to a click.

• Interactions – This metric covers all interactions with your ad, and is applicable across all ad types. For example, an interaction might be a click through to your landing page, a call made via the call extension, or a view of a video ad. When viewing multiple campaign types, the AdWords interface will replace “Clicks” with “Interactions” automatically.

• Conversions – Possibly the most essential indicator of performance. Conversions are your goal and they can be triggered in a number of ways. This might be a purchase of your product, download of a PDF, submission of a contact form, etc.

• View through conversion – This is an interesting metric that is used to count a conversion where, although a user sees your ad, they don’t interact with it, but ultimately do. This can happen if the same user converts via another means or route, for example, by visiting the advertised product page organically and purchasing directly.

• Cost-Per-Conversion – Not to be confused with “CPC”, this is the average cost of a conversion when taking into account all clicks in the given period that could lead to a conversion. For example, ten clicks at £1.50 leading to two conversions would give a cost-per-conversion of £7.50.

• Ad position – As the name implies, this is the position your ad takes on a SERP. Since the removal of the sidebar on Google SERPs in 2016, only positions 1-4 can be visible at the top of the page. Generally, ads in higher positions are clicked more often than those below.

Quality indicators for search campaigns:

There are several quality indicators for keywords and ads, which ultimately contribute to the position your ad takes on a SERP and how much you pay for a click. Keeping these in check will help maintain a good ad position.

• Quality score – A score given to an individual keyword. This score is calculated based on “average”, “above average”, and “below average” statuses for the following:

○ Expected CTR – The predicted CTR based on historical data.

○ Ad relevance – A measure how relevant the ad and keywords in the ad group are to each other.

○ Landing page experience – The relevance and usefulness of your landing page, including ease of navigation and organisation.

• Ad rank – Calculated for individual ads at every eligible auction, ad rank is influenced by quality score and bids. As of May/June 2017, Google is also taking into account the user’s intent and the use of ad extensions.

These are just some of the terms used in Google AdWords, and largely focus on those relevant to Search campaigns. But they are also some of the most essential to understand, whether you review reports or run your own campaigns.

We’ll keep updating this list as PPC through Google AdWords evolves.

If you haven’t yet tried PPC marketing, but think it can fit into your marketing strategy, contact us. We can talk you through the options and, with our blend of science and marketing backgrounds, help develop a PPC programme that’s right for your business.

]]>One month at Alto Marketinghttp://alto-marketing.com/one-month-at-alto-marketing/
Wed, 30 Aug 2017 19:08:14 +0000http://alto-marketing.com/?p=1004Written by Barbara Cintra. Almost one month has passed since I started my internship at Alto Marketing. When I contacted David…

Almost one month has passed since I started my internship at Alto Marketing. When I contacted David I was looking for some work experience, since I had just finished my degree and I wasn’t sure about what I wanted to do next. When given the opportunity, I thought that working for a few months away from everything I am used to, and comfortable with, could help me decide what my next step is. Coming from Portugal, I wasn’t looking forward to the English weather but so far I have been pleasantly surprised. It is not as bad as I expected!

I will be with Alto for four months and while I’m here I hope to learn more about B2B marketing in niche sectors, specifically Life Science and Healthcare, and how this varies from B2C marketing. For the first few weeks I’ve been working on a number of research projects that have given me some insight into the markets in which Alto’s clients operate.

So far I have helped to update the PR distribution list to ensure all the media contacts are correct, which has allowed me to discover some of the key publications and websites in each sector. Surprisingly, during my research I’ve found that requesting media kits from publishers is not always as easy as it might sound! But we get there in the end!

I’ve also been finding out more about key industry events that Alto attend, such as Basel Life Science Week (MipTec), IBMS, ELRIG DD, CPhI and LabInnovations. It was interesting to learn how these events still play a significant role in the marketing mix for many of Alto’s clients. Besides this, I have learnt about analysis and reporting for AdWords, advertising and PR, as well as email design and much more! I’ve also helped Alto with some of their own marketing, looking for new website images and building emails.

After this first month I can say that the experience has been great and I’ve learned a lot about Alto and what they do for their clients. I have worked with different members of the team, as they tell me about what they do and how I can help them with some of those tasks. This was only the first month, and I’m sure the next one will be just as good and full of new experiences to write about in my next blog!

In 1878 British eccentric Eadweard Muybridge (born Edward Muggeridge!) placed 12 cameras along a race track to capture images of a galloping horse in rapid succession. In his attempt to determine if a horse is ever fully airborne he paved the way for the development of the motion picture industry. Over a 100 years later these iconic images have been encoded, captured and retrieved from the DNA of living bacteria.

We all know our genetic code makes us what we are, it can tell us who we were from the DNA of our ancestors and predict our health in the future. Forensic examinations of our DNA can even tell if we have committed a crime. All this information is stored in 3D biomolecules first identified by Swiss chemist Friedrich Miescher in 1869 and the complex structure of DNA was eventually defined in 1953 by James Watson and Francis Crick.

Over the last 40 years the idea of using DNA to store large amounts of coded data began to emerge. DNA is a molecule which stores information in a non-linear fashion and has the potential for storing huge amounts of data. With suitable encryption methods, DNA could offer readable and reliable data storage for millennia in controlled environmental conditions away from the presence of water and air. The names of eminent scientists, Shakespeare’s sonnets, Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream speech’ and, somewhat aptly, Watson and Crick’s 1953 paper have all been written into artificial DNA molecules.

In the current digital age, our demand for data storage is an ever-growing monster. In 2012 worldwide storage capacity was estimated at 2.72 zettabytes (2.72 x 1021 bytes!) which has been calculated to increase to 44ZB by 2020! Just 4g DNA can store all the world’s data for one year and the entire data to date can be held in 1 cubic inch of DNA! Initial problems with the cost of synthesising DNA and laborious sequencing methods are now being overcome. So, is the development of DNA hard drives a ‘viable’ option now?

This recent study by Professor Church and his colleagues at Harvard, optimised data incorporation into the DNA of living cells, which was maintained through several cell divisions and could still be retrieved. They demonstrated this by recovering the images of Muybridge’s galloping horse from the bacterial DNA one frame at a time. Whether this could eventually translate into everyone having ID numbers incorporated into their DNA is yet to be seen, eg the propensity of DNA to mutate and change over time has to be taken into account.

However, as the authors from this study postulate, DNA introduced into living cells could be used as a ‘molecular recorder’. Examples suggested include tracing and identifying a running record of the effects of pollution in our environment from DNA introduced into microbes, and monitoring the development of complex cells in human and animal brains and organs.

Whatever the application we just have to hope that no one forgets the encryption code!

And for help in communicating your data in life sciences, healthcare, science and industry, Alto Marketing are experts! So why not get in touch.

]]>Supported YouTube videos: a different way to get your brand in front of your target audiencehttp://alto-marketing.com/supported-youtube-videos-different-way-get-brand-front-target-audience/
Fri, 21 Jul 2017 13:41:02 +0000http://alto-marketing.com/?p=969Written by William van Grunsven, PhD. When it comes to spending money on brand recognition, it’s all about targeting the right…

When it comes to spending money on brand recognition, it’s all about targeting the right people, and if your target audience is within the scientific community, then supporting videos on popular science YouTube channels might be an option.

Popular science channels have subscriber bases that vary from thousands to millions, and many generate (additional) income by mentioning or promoting brands and services.

Supporting videos involves working directly with the video producers to deliver a corporate message. It is different from standard YouTube advertising where banners or videos are shown, either before or during a video. Each channel will have its own individual guidelines to safeguard its reputation, and sponsoring companies will need to be aware of these.

This is a good example of a supported video; it starts with a brief mention of the sponsor (after 3 seconds) and is followed up with a 30-second shot of the presenter explaining the service (at 8.50).

It will hardly come as a surprise that popular science reaches a larger audience than more technical videos. However, each channel has its own audience and smaller, more technical channels often have a more well-defined audience.

So if it’s important to get your corporate message out to an audience with an interest in science and technology, it might be worth becoming a video supporter. It can help you reach your target audience in a different way – and it supports some of the best science communicators out there.

At Alto Marketing we can help you make sense of the vast amount of ways to get your message to the right audience. Get in touch to find out more about how to reach the right people in science, healthcare and industry.

]]>Email marketing is evolving. What’s new in 2017 and what can we do to make campaigns more effective?http://alto-marketing.com/email-marketing-evolving-whats-new-2017-can-make-campaigns-effective/
Fri, 07 Jul 2017 13:54:06 +0000http://alto-marketing.com/?p=961Written by Sam Cooper. Last year I wrote about the ever-evolving email marketing landscape, particularly the impact of increasing mobile usage.…

Last year I wrote about the ever-evolving email marketing landscape, particularly the impact of increasing mobile usage. In this blog I will provide an update on what’s new in the world of email marketing and identify some easy ways to make your campaigns more effective.

What’s new in email marketing?

Although websites have been using HTML5 since circa 2011, email platforms have yet to fully embrace it, limiting the options available to email developers and marketers. However, 2017 looks set to be the year this finally changes, with exciting new features and possibilities available as a result.

New interactive possibilities – At the start of 2017 Litmus surveyed e-marketing experts to predict the biggest sector trends of 2017 and found the number one response was the emergence of ‘interactive emails’. The adoption of HTML5 by major platforms makes this a real possibility. It allows developers to increase functionality in emails to include actions that would otherwise need to be done elsewhere, streamlining processes. For example, recipients can now complete a purchase or fill out a form directly within their email client. In theory, removing the need to click through to a landing page should make the process quicker and easier for the recipient, increasing engagement and, crucially, increasing conversion.

Video content – Developers have been hoping to implement video content in email for a number of years, to both enhance the user experience and again, increase interaction. Thanks to HTML5, video content is now available in some of the world’s most popular email clients, such as Samsung Galaxy’s native client and Apple Mail. The release of iOS 10 also made HTML5 video support accessible on Apple mobile devices, helping developers to deliver video based emails to a much wider audience.

New Visual advancements – HTML5 also allows developers to include image slideshows and animated GIF’s in email, expanding design options to maximise engagement. Remember though, it’s a good idea to have some fall back imagery for clients that don’t support HTML5.

What can you do to make your e-marketing more effective?

Unfortunately, despite the developments outlined above, there are still restrictions; Email platforms such as Google and Yahoo mail still don’t currently feature HTML5 capability and Outlook can render the same email differently in every single one of its many versions! In the current climate, it is more or less impossible for your email to look 100% correct on every single device. With that said, you always want your email to look good on as many devices as possible and there are a few easy solutions to get you on the right track.

First of all, using email marketing software such as MailChimp and Campaign Monitor can do a lot of the work for you as they feature mobile friendly and responsive templates, taking a lot of the fiddly work out of your hands. An additional test with Litmus (an online service which lets you see what your email looks like on many different platforms and devices, particularly good for testing for Outlook) can show what you might need to change.

Another idea to make your e-marketing campaigns more effective is to increase personalisation. If you are already interacting with a customer, try to analyse all the information at your disposal. What have they looked at on your website? What have they previously purchased? From here you can start segmenting customers and targeting users with specific content. For example if someone has left your website with an item in their basket, why not target them with an email? (“Still interested in this item?”) According to a study by Experian1, personalisation increases open rates by 26% so don’t just leave it at “Dear Sam”, try and target exactly what they are interested in, otherwise you could end up in the trash.

Hopefully these tips have been useful and provide food for thought in developing your future email marketing campaigns. To learn more about what we can offer to help improve your email marketing, please contact us!

]]>Magical, ultra-tough new antibiotic that packs a punchhttp://alto-marketing.com/magical-ultra-tough-new-antibiotic-packs-punch/
Wed, 14 Jun 2017 08:25:22 +0000http://alto-marketing.com/?p=955Written by Dr Kelly Hooper. Recently, I visited the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford and caught the BACK FROM…

As well as explaining how antibiotics work, the history of their development, and the issues we face with antibiotic resistance, the exhibition also looked at modern day research and development. While there is still a long way to go in terms of keeping up with demand (and bacteria’s clever resistance tricks!), work in the area is definitely on the up.

This was demonstrated last week when some new research emerged. The research proved to be popular in the national and international media, with newspapers referring to it as a “magical” and “ultra-tough” new antibiotic that “packs a punch” against bacterial resistance to fight superbugs.

In this work, a team from the Scripps Research Institute re-engineered a common and vital antibiotic – vancomycin – to increase its potency and make it “ultra-tough”.

Changes to the molecular structure of the drug mean that the new form has additional mechanisms of action to overcome vancomycin resistance. This re-engineered version differs in three key ways to the original vancomycin molecule:

• Two modifications increase the potency of the antibiotic, meaning that doctors can use less of the antibiotic to fight an infection.

• A third modification enables the molecule to attack bacteria in a different and more successful way by destroying their cell walls

All three modifications combined mean that the new vancomycin has a 1,000-fold increase in activity. It also becomes the first antibiotic to have three independent mechanisms of action, which makes it harder for resistance to build up. Although bacteria may find a way around one of these killing mechanisms, the other two are standing in reserve to continue the fight and combat the infection.

Perhaps there are other antibiotics which could benefit from molecular and structural changes to boost their bacteria-killing powers and prevent resistance build-up. This would definitely be a step in the right direction in the race to combat antibiotic resistance.

At Alto Marketing, our team of science PhDs write at many levels for our clients. We work on complex, technical whitepapers reviewing journal articles and in-house data, as well as short pieces for social media and company websites that really highlight the key information and are accessible to many. If you would like to find out more and see how we could help you in communicating science then get in touch

]]>To PR, or not to PR?http://alto-marketing.com/to-pr-or-not-to-pr/
Mon, 22 May 2017 14:05:34 +0000http://alto-marketing.com/?p=947Written by David Robinson. When does PR make sense for science and healthcare companies? As Alto Marketing specialises in science and…

When does PR make sense for science and healthcare companies?

As Alto Marketing specialises in science and healthcare marketing communications, the question of whether PR is still an effective business-to-business (B2B) communications channel often comes up.

The emphasis on science and healthcare PR has changed over the years as the media landscape has changed, particularly with the increasing influence and effectiveness of digital marketing. Of course, the channels used in a communications programme will depend on the individual company, their industry and areas of interest, and what they want to achieve.

That said, PR should definitely be a key component in the communications mix, if:

• Your products have sales, or potential for sales, in multiple market sectors

Why? Well, if you’re selling to a large number of possible customers, and/or into many market sectors, PR will give you the most cost-effective exposure to these potential customers, both in terms of actual cost and the resource needed to manage it, compared to other channels. If your customers are hard to find, or you’re not sure who they are, again PR is a cost-effective way of “trawling” a large universe of potential customers to get to the likely ones.

PR is also a major channel that investors and deal-makers use to gain insight into developments in the science and healthcare industry. So if you’re looking for finance or partnerships, then PR is essential. Once you have finance, your investors will want the world to know about your company and increase its value…so PR is again going to be a cornerstone of your communications.

In addition to the above, there are other, often overlooked, reasons why companies should run a healthcare or science PR programme:

Brand awareness & positioning

The importance of brand awareness cannot be overstated, even in this age of data-driven marketing and immediate results. In the scientific or healthcare B2B environment, your audience is unlikely to make a decision based totally on emotion. In most cases a prospect becomes a “lead” due to multiple factors. They may have responded to your e-marketing or AdWords campaign, but they are likely to have done so because they are already aware of your brand and have gained confidence in it. When your news is picked up by highly trusted media it also gives your brand added credibility, especially when compared to paid advertising.

PR is an excellent tool for raising brand awareness over time, particularly as part of an integrated communications programme with other channels such as advertising. PR also generates direct enquiries as well.

Content marketing

A PR programme is an ideal way of developing and maintaining a content calendar for your content marketing programme. As well as the news about new products and customers for your PR programme, the calendar might also include lead generating content marketing activities such as white papers, application notes, case studies, videos and scientific posters. Most, or all, of these can be “repurposed” as PR news and repurposed again as blogs for your website and social media channels.

Search engine optimisation (SEO)

The more relevant content you have on your website and the more regularly your website is updated, the better your on-page SEO will be. With a PR programme in place, you will be producing news content on a regular basis. This should be uploaded to your site when it is released and is therefore a regular source of new and relevant content for your website SEO.

At Alto Marketing we consider the broad picture every time we start working with a client – and again when a client’s particular situation changes – to determine the most relevant communications channels. In most cases PR is extremely valuable, but it might not be right in all situations. So if you’d like a new approach to your scientific and healthcare marketing communications, or simply an objective review, please ask us.

* There is no rule of thumb here and this should be reviewed and decided on a case-by-case basis.

]]>Event report: Making Pharmaceuticals and Med-Tech Innovations Expohttp://alto-marketing.com/event-report-making-pharmaceuticals-med-tech-innovations-expo/
Mon, 15 May 2017 13:27:58 +0000http://alto-marketing.com/?p=941Written by David Robinson. Two somewhat related events were held at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry in late April this year,…

Two somewhat related events were held at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry in late April this year, with Making Pharmaceuticals (25th to 26th April) “joining” Med-Tech Innovations Expo (26th to 27th April), albeit in different halls. This was an interesting development given that the shows are organised by separate event companies, but a good one as the co-location definitely seemed to bring in additional visitors.

As well as the central location, both shows benefited from well attended conference streams and a good spread of exhibitors, most of whom (at least in the Making Pharmaceuticals hall in which I spent more of my time) seemed pleased with the delegate numbers and quality. Having outgrown its old home in the nearby National Motorcycle Museum, Making Pharmaceuticals was busy for most of the time – even into the second day, which is usually much quieter for a 2-day exhibition – as this was the opening day of Med-Tech Innovations Expo.

With conference sessions and coffee/lunch areas within the main halls, and break out rooms across the arena foyer, the organisers are to be congratulated for both bringing in the visitors and ensuring that they visit the exhibition.

The format is going to be repeated in 2018, with Making Pharmaceuticals 24-25 April and Med-Tech Innovations Expo 25-26 April. As with all exhibitions, success for exhibitors will only be confirmed as initial meetings are turned into sales, however if these shows are relevant to you, they are definitely worth a look.

Alto Marketing specialises in life science and healthcare communications, so contact us if you’d like any advice on which shows to attend, how to make the most of your event attendance, or any support with your event marketing programme.

]]>Fight the good fight: the race between man and microbeshttp://alto-marketing.com/fight-the-good-fight-the-race-between-man-and-microbes/
Thu, 04 May 2017 08:37:53 +0000http://alto-marketing.com/?p=936Written by Sarah Warnes. Hearing the words ‘antibiotic resistance’ is enough to instil a little panic in all of us. Reports…

Hearing the words ‘antibiotic resistance’ is enough to instil a little panic in all of us. Reports of doctors struggling to find effective medicines are increasing, and awareness of hospital-acquired infections induces fear about going to hospital. ‘I don’t want to come home with more than I went in with’ moaned an elderly neighbour of mine who was due to undergo a minor hospital procedure.

I remember lecturers ranting on about the perils of antibiotic misuse in the 1970s. Now 2017 has been flagged as a ‘tipping point’ for antibiotic resistance as the situation becomes critical – videos of evolving bacteria highlight the point.

It has taken many years for this message to come across which reinforces the need for clear communications on such serious issues.

The discovery in 1928 of an antimicrobial compound which could kill bacteria by disrupting their cell walls revolutionised medicine and veterinary science. As bacteria evolved mechanisms to survive this onslaught, genes conferring antibiotic resistance were swapped around between the same and different bacterial species. This led to the development of generations of antibiotics in the fight to keep up.

Outbreaks of resistance in skin colonisers, such as Staphylococcus species, were followed by those residing in the bacteria of the gut. This has been more difficult to contain and now many drug resistant bacteria exist not only in man and animals but also in the environment. Overuse and misuse of antibiotics has hastened this process and even commensals and probiotic bacteria can become potential killers, acting as a reservoir for antibiotic resistance genes.

We tend to think of antibiotic resistance as a recent problem, it has, in fact, been going on for thousands of years. An interesting development has isolated functional resistance genes from 5000-year-old DNA in the Beringian permafrost. Antibiotic resistance genes have also been found in the gut bacteria of 1000-year-old mummies from the Inca Empire, resistant to drugs only discovered in the last 100 years including penicillin, vancomycin and tetracycline. This knowledge of the past could be helpful in predictions about the future of antibiotic resistance.

So, are we about to enter a pre-antibiotic era where even the tiniest scratch could develop into an untreatable and potentially fatal infection? A woman from Nevada died last year from a strain of Klebsiella that was to resistant to 26 antibiotics, and the World Health Organisation recently published a list of bacteria for which new antibiotics are urgently needed.

Several strategies to tackle this include the search for new drugs, reinstating old ones and treatments with novel drug combinations. Improved vaccination schedules, the use of bacteria- killing viruses and devising ways to attack multiple targets of bacterial structure and metabolism are also part of the armoury. Even the use of 3D printing is helping in vaccine design. Platforms are also available for clinicians to rapidly obtain resistance profiles of bacteria prior to prescribing.

Alexander Fleming modestly declared ‘Nature makes penicillin; I just found it’ but in 1945 he also stated ‘The thoughtless person playing with penicillin treatment is morally responsible for the death of the man who succumbs to infection with the penicillin-resistant organism.’

Increased communications about the worldwide threat to health from antibiotic resistance has at last spurred a call to action. The fight between man and the microbes is on.

For help communicating your message in life sciences, healthcare, science and industry please get in touch.

]]>Why decision fatigue matters in marketinghttp://alto-marketing.com/why-decision-fatigue-matters-in-marketing/
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 08:35:03 +0000http://alto-marketing.com/?p=928Written by Victoria Coupe. How many of us get to the end of the week and still have a spring in our…

How many of us get to the end of the week and still have a spring in our step? Even the most energetic among us are ready for the weekend when it arrives. It’s no surprise really, we all lead busy lives. But do we truly understand the cause of this fatigue? I recently saw a TEDx talk that aimed to shed some light on the issue, (warning – watching this will make you seriously re-think your Facebook account) with considerable implications for marketers.

Why decision fatigue matters in marketing

The theory is that we are suffering from decision fatigue. This may or may not be a term you’ve come across before but at least on the surface it’s quite self-explanatory. Simply put, we have to make too many decisions because we’re consuming so much media and the brain gets tired. Remember ‘decisions’ are everything we do from making a cup of tea to reading a particular piece of content or checking your emails…

As it turns out there is a limit to our cognitive capacity and we’re hitting that limit far earlier in the day due to the sheer volume of media we are consuming. As Scott Ely references in his talk; a recent study showed that the average American spends 11 hours a day consuming some kind of electronic media. Yikes. It’s no wonder we’re tired.

Now I realise this might sound a bit negative, but actually it is hugely relevant to marketing. In fact this concept won’t be entirely unfamiliar to marketers, especially in B2C. Those chocolate bars next to the till in supermarkets aren’t there by accident. They are strategically positioned to catch you at the end of your shop, so that by the time you see them you’ve likely got decision fatigue and with your willpower sufficiently diminished, you’ll buy them.

While this might be a slightly darker application of decision fatigue theory, it’s a good example of how understanding the psychology of your target audience is crucial to successful marketing. Like it or not, your target audience probably has decision fatigue and factoring it in to your marketing communications strategy is a wise move.

One thing to consider is the later in the day that you reach out to your audience, the more mentally fatigued they are likely to be. When we’re mentally fatigued we can make bad decisions, or put them off entirely, and are unlikely to take in new data effectively. This means the chances of having your message heard and acted upon are significantly reduced.

It’s about having empathy with your audience. Remember – they are human, just like us! It’s easy to think of your audience as rational purchasing machines but even in B2B there are ‘soft’ factors that can influence a buying decision and need to be considered. To drop a term I haven’t heard much in a while, we need to consider “human to human marketing”. After all, like us, our audience want an easy life and for decisions to be easier, simpler and fewer.

So my advice is to try to send communications that are as genuinely helpful or interesting as possible. Try sending them earlier in the day or after lunch (we are refreshed after eating) and you might get a better response. Don’t make your audience jump through multiple hoops or clicks to get to what they need and don’t make anything unnecessarily complicated. This applies to every bit of marketing you do – website, emails, articles press releases, social, AdWords….

Decision fatigue is real, so keep it simple and empathise with your audience – they’ll thank you for it.